Minister fired after tiff with Japan's elite / Once-popular figure loses out to old guard

James Brooke, New York Times

Published
4:00 am PST, Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Makiko Tanaka may be replaced by Sadako Ogata, former U.N. high commissioner for refugees. Kyodo photo by Fukiji Niwa via Associated Press

Makiko Tanaka may be replaced by Sadako Ogata, former U.N. high commissioner for refugees. Kyodo photo by Fukiji Niwa via Associated Press

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Makiko Tanaka may be replaced by Sadako Ogata, former U.N. high commissioner for refugees. Kyodo photo by Fukiji Niwa via Associated Press

Makiko Tanaka may be replaced by Sadako Ogata, former U.N. high commissioner for refugees. Kyodo photo by Fukiji Niwa via Associated Press

Minister fired after tiff with Japan's elite / Once-popular figure loses out to old guard

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2002-01-30 04:00:00 PDT Tokyo -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi fired his foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, yesterday, ending a tumultuous nine-month alliance in which two of Japan's most popular politicians tried to balance their reformist views in the same government.

"I asked them if they were firing me, and the prime minister himself said yes," Tanaka said minutes after leaving a political meeting at Koizumi's residence. "The prime minister himself told me he was replacing me."

As the first woman to be Japan's foreign minister, Tanaka, 57, had won legions of followers by criticizing Japan's conservative old guard. But her constant feuding with bureaucrats made her a liability for Koizumi, who started the new year facing a worsening economic situation and a number of diplomatic challenges.

Her firing was seen by political analysts and voters alike as a sign that Koizumi was giving in to the conservative old guard in an effort to stabilize his weakening government. But Tanaka's departure could actually undermine Koizumi, alienating her supporters and leaving the prime minister and the ailing economy alone in the spotlight.

A year ago, Tanaka was Japan's most popular politician, according to public opinion polls. But by the time a conference was held here last week on Afghan aid, she had been reduced to a figurehead.

Yesterday morning, Japanese newspapers speculated that Koizumi would try to tap as foreign minister another woman, Sadako Ogata, who won high praise as the co-chairwoman of the aid conference. Ogata, a Ford Foundation fellow who spends much of her time in New York, served for 10 years as U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

After the roller coaster of Tanaka's tenure -- in which she was involved in controversies over government leaks, fired secretaries and a missed imperial garden party -- many Japanese say a professional is needed to run foreign policy.

During her time in office, Tanaka had complained that bureaucrats had cut her out of the flow of information, had not told her about meetings and had isolated her in an office that contained no international newspapers, foreign language dictionaries or even a map of the world.

Koizumi's decision to change foreign ministers comes just as a number of world leaders will begin arriving here. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is to arrive here in an effort to break a half-century old logjam over four islands occupied by Russia and claimed by Japan.

On Feb. 17, President Bush is expected for a two-day visit, much of which will focus on Japan's worsening economy. On Tuesday, the government reported that unemployment had risen to 5.6 percent in December after a 7.9 percent fall in industrial production last year.

Also fired yesterday was Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami, the ministry's top civil servant. Koizumi announced today he will assume the foreign minister's post himself while he searches for a permanent replacement.